Fort Ancient gains UNESCO World Heritage Status

Written by K. B. Niehoff. 

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: countless years of diligent work, research and documentation performed by dedicated professionals, volunteers and tribal partners has yielded a positive outcome.
​
On September 19, 2023, at their annual meeting, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee through the inscription process has placed the Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks on the UNESCO World Heritage list of World Cultural Sites considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5243/

The Fort Ancient hilltop enclosure three-and-a-half miles of sinuous earthen embankments are accompanied by a continuous necklace of clay-lined ponds. The enclosure has 67 gateways, a few of which must have been more important than others such as the northeastern entrance that is framed on the outside by two large, conical mounds. Within the northern enclosure, the so-called north fort, four stone-covered mounds form a perfect square. From one of these mounds there are alignments though particular gateways to important solar and lunar events.

​Ohio’s Hopewell Earthworks are the pre-eminent examples, and the largest concentration in the world, of prehistoric monumental landscape architecture. They display a truly astonishing scope, beauty, and precision in form, intent, and execution. This is the 25th site in the United States.
http://worldheritageohio.org/hopewell-ceremonial-earthworks/